


Drained

by savvyliterate



Category: Slayers (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Post-novel 17, Some spoilers apply
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-10
Updated: 2021-01-10
Packaged: 2021-03-14 05:40:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,474
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28665615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/savvyliterate/pseuds/savvyliterate
Summary: It was a dangerous spell, basically calling upon Airlord’s power to tear the parts from Zelgadis that Rezo had fused into him. There was a huge risk involved. They could lose their magic or their lives. But they had to try.
Relationships: Gourry Gabriev/Lina Inverse, Zelgadis Greywords/Amelia Wil Tesla Seyruun
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11





	Drained

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Bitterbyte](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bitterbyte/gifts).



> This does contain a couple of spoilers regarding novel 17, including the setting, but nothing that will ruin your enjoyment of the novel. This fic takes place at some point in the distant future after that novel.
> 
> There are a couple lines in this story that paraphrased taken from a well-known Tumblr meme and were used as an intended homage. Credit for those lines goes to constant-nxthing.
> 
> This was written as a gift fic for Bitterbyte the 2020 Slayers Secret Santa on Tumblr. Additional thanks to AmeriaGrae on the Slayers Discord, because a random comment by her gave me this plotbunny.

There were many things that Lina and Gourry brought back with them from their unplanned expedition beyond the mazoku barrier. One of those was knowledge hoarded by those who worshipped Airlord. When they returned, when they did what they originally set out to do in Zefielia before getting propelled into an unknown land, they decided to find Zelgadis.

They found him with Amelia in the Kingdom of Dils, in a city Lina had traveled to years before with her sister. She had heard an oral recitation of a Claire Bible manuscript that led her to develop the Giga Slave. After a visit to Saillune, Amelia had gone with Zelgadis to listen to the same sages. It felt very full circle-ish. Except instead of putting the universe at risk this time, they were remaking a man. Literally.

“I’m not gonna lie. It’s pretty dangerous,” Lina said as she out pulled the ancient parchment scroll she had carried across a good chunk of a continent out of her cloak.

“One would think we would be used to that by now,” Zelgadis replied.

“Yeah, but even I’m a bit more cautious of that sort of thing now.” She shrugged. “By the time you fight your second Demon Lord fragment, you start to get a bit weary of those things.”

Zelgadis took the parchment, carefully unrolling it. A second scroll fell out, this one on newer parchment.

“A translation. We traveled with this girl, Ran, for awhile. She was able to read it for us.”

Amelia read over his shoulder as Lina sat across from them, hands folded in front of her. She knew the entire spell by heart, having read it herself dozens of times during the months it took to get home and to find them.

“It requires at least three people to power the spell, including the person it affects. The sages we spoke with also suggested having a non-magic user there as a spotter.” Lina jerked her head in Gourry’s direction. “That person will be able to intervene and end the spell without harm to themselves if things go wrong or deal with the aftermath.”

“You never did say,” Goury told her, “how I would know if things go wrong.”

“Nope,” Lina said with a pop of the p and grinned at him. 

He scowled back. “Lina …”

“What do you think, Zelgadis-san?” Amelia asked. “There are four of us. The three of us can power the spell, and Gourry-san can watch over us.”

Zel, Lina knew, could analyze a spell about as quickly as she could. Knowledge from his time as Rezo’s apprentice. She saw the moment he realized the risk, his gaze flicking briefly to Amelia before turning back to it. It was something she hadn’t told Gourry, because he would worry. It was a dangerous spell, basically calling upon Airlord’s power to tear the parts from Zel that Rezo had fused into him. It didn’t just require three sorcerers, but three highly skilled ones in different schools of magic. Zelgadis was in shamanistic magic, Amelia in white magic, and herself in black.

Carefully, he rolled up the scrolls. “What do you think our chances are for success?”

“Honestly? Fifty-fifty. You don’t have to do this, but I want you to know this was out there.”

“Fair enough.” Zelgadis tucked the scroll into his own cloak. “Do you want to try it?”

Lina’s gaze was steady and sure. “Yes.”

“Yes!” Amelia piped in.

Their focus turned to her. “Amelia,” Zelgadis started to say, but she immediately shook her head.

“I read the same thing you did. I know there’s a huge risk, but I think it could work with the three of us powering the spell. We have to try!”

“Would someone please tell me,” Gourry spoke up, “what could possibly happen to you three?”

“Well,” Lina admitted. “There’s a teeny tiny chance one or all of us could be killed in the process. Not a huge chance. Just maybe 3 percent. Or even 5.”

Gourry glared at her.

“OK, OK, 10 to 15 percent, but it’s really not that bad.”

He sighed and stared at Zelgadis for several long moments before shaking his head. “So what do we have to do?”

* * *

They found a remote cabin about an hour’s walk from the city to use. It had enough sleeping space for all of them and a large area in the back where they could perform the spell. They stocked a week’s worth of food and medicine in case it was needed. Over the next day, Zelgadis and Amelia memorized their parts of the spell while Lina prepared the area. She had Gourry clear out a few more trees, then drew the necessary sigils on the ground with charcoal. She could feel his worry, a palpable tension between them. It reminded her of when Zuuma had ordered them to come to Vezendi. 

“I’m just worried I won’t know what to do if something happens,” he admitted as they sat together under a tree, splitting a watermelon.

“You’ve taken care of me before when I’ve been down for the count. Just rinse and repeat.” Lina absently flicked seeds out of her watermelon slice. “Do you not want me to do it?”

Gourry blinked at her, surprised. “You want my opinion on it?”

“Well. Sure. Especially now that we’re married.” It had been the thing they’d done in Zefielia, when they finally returned to where they started.

He took a bite of watermelon. He stared toward the cabin, his gaze far away. He didn’t speak for so long that she thought he had fallen asleep. 

“It’s selfish of me to say no,” he finally said. “It’s not like we haven’t put our lives at risk before.”

“Nope. Got a giant target painted over us from the moment we got involved with Rezo and began taking on powerful mazoku.”

“Just be careful, OK?”

She laid her hand atop his and squeezed. “Hey, that’s why we’ve got you here.”

He turned his palm up so their fingers were laced. He squeezed back and tried his best to give her a reassuring smile. 

It didn’t quite work. She decided not to say anything.

* * *

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Zelgadis asked Amelia after she recited her part of the spell to him.

“Absolutely!”

“Even knowing there’s a risk?”

“We can’t live our lives hiding from every risky thing out there,” Amelia told him. “We’ve been looking for a cure for you for years, and this is the closest thing we’ve come to it.”

“Yes.” Zelgadis paced the room, lingering by the window to look at where the magic circle was prepared. He watched Lina and Gourry eat watermelon together under a nearby tree as they talked. Something in him yearned for that connection with another human being. It felt like … he turned back to study Amelia as she muttered the spell to herself once more. He felt it with her. He felt comfortable with her in a way that made him feel like he wasn’t a chimera.

Lina had told him what happened outside the barrier, how people had tracked her down to punish her for casting a perfect Giga Slave. A spell she cast for Gourry’s sake, because there was a slim chance he would survive even if she hadn’t. She had been forced to defend that decision, which finally propelled them toward marriage. 

In many ways, this spell was his personal Giga Slave.

He decided there and then that this was it. No more hunting for a cure. No more wasting his life and Amelia’s. If this spell did not work, he would move on with the rest of his life. Doing what, he wasn’t sure. But maybe, if Amelia was willing, she would consider letting him go back to Saillune with her and seeing what sort of future they could make together.

Zelgadis opened his mouth.

“Oh!” Amelia leaped to her feet. “It’s nearly dusk. We need to start the spell right as the sun sets, right, Zelgadis-san?”

Zelgadis closed his mouth, then nodded. “Right.”

* * *

Candles were lit and placed in strategic areas around the circle. Lina, Zelgadis and Amelia had shed their cloaks, gems and weapons. Lina stared long and hard at the plain band on her left hand before stripping it off. Instead of stacking it with her other items, she handed it to Gourry. 

“Keep that safe,” she ordered, putting it into his palm and closing his fingers around it.

He nodded. He had also taken off his own armor and the Blast Sword, just in case.

She stood there, head bowed over his closed hand for a moment.

“It’s going to be OK,” he soothed her.

She nodded back. 

He patted her head with his free hand. “It will be OK,” he repeated.

“Right.” She squeezed his hand. The moment she turned away, he closed his eyes and took a deep, shuddering breath before tucking the ring safely in the small pocket where he still kept the pin he once used when he needed to use the Sword of Light.

Zelgadis took his place in the center of the circle. Amelia and Lina flanked him on the outer edges.

Amelia thought of the two letters she wrote earlier that day. It felt silly. She had been in much worse situations than this. Granted, they had stumbled into those, and this one had given them enough time to actually think things through. If … well, _if_ … Gourry was to deliver the letters to her father and sister. She left them in her cloak.

As nervous as she felt, there was also no fear. This was the right thing to do for Zelgadis. And if it didn’t work, she would keep trying for him. She had felt powerless for so long in the middle of her family’s feuding. This was something good, something tangible, setting right a great wrong. And then … maybe then … she could admit to Zelgadis the feelings she had nurtured for years.

“Are we ready?” Lina called out.

Zelgadis and Amelia answered in the affirmative.

Her gaze flicked over to Gourry, standing a good bit away from the circle. “Ready?”

He nodded.

“All right.” Lina clapped her hands together. “Zel, start.”

* * *

Lina had explained how the spell worked to him several times, but Gourry didn’t remember it all. He knew it would use Airlord’s power to try to remove the parts from Zelgadis that weren’t supposed to be there. Zel, the one being affected by the spell, would start it. Amelia and Lina would join in. From there? Well. He wasn’t sure. All he knew is that he felt useless just standing there.

Zelgadis began to glow with a white light as magic channeled around him. The same barriers flared around the girls as they joined in. It was breathtaking. Gourry didn’t understand magic, but he was in constant awe at seeing the bigger spells cast. The first time Lina had cast a Dragon Slave impressed the hell out of him, especially once he found out that she was only 15. 

This spell was particularly beautiful. The casters were bathed in light as colors arched through their air. Their chanting merged, becoming almost music-like and drowning out the frantic beating of Gourry’s heart as he watched and waited. His thumb repeatedly worried the gold band he wore. 

The light grew bigger and brighter until three distinctive beams merged into one and formed a dome. His breath caught as that grew bigger, threatening to spill outside the circle. Then, it suddenly was too bright, and he stumbled back, tossing his arm over his eyes to shield them as he turned his head away. 

Then the dome disappeared, leaving three figures sprawled on the ground, unconscious.

Gourry raced into the circle, toward Lina to check on her first. He dropped to his knees next to her. She was barely breathing, her hair like silver icicles spilling over her shoulders. Shaking, he pressed his fingers to her pulse and nearly wept when he felt her heartbeat. 

He glanced over at Zelgadis and Amelia, wondering if the spell had worked.

He blinked.

* * *

Zelgadis barely remembered the hours that followed. He slept more than he had slept since before his transformation, only waking long enough for Gourry to help him eat and drink and see to his personal needs. 

When he fully came to, Amelia was sitting at the foot of his bed with tears in her eyes.

“Your hair,” he breathed, stunned at the silver locks. He had seen Lina drained of her magic, but seeing Amelia drained felt incredibly wrong.

“My magic’s already starting to come back,” Amelia replied, flicking at the ends of her hair. It had started to turn violet as the color came back. “I think you and Lina-san took the harder hits. I woke up yesterday, and she did this morning. Poor Gourry-san, having to take care of all three of us like that.”

She reached for his hand.

His chimeric hand.

Zelgadis yanked it away, horror slowly suffocating him. He touched his hair and felt the spikiness. “It … it didn’t work.”

Amelia shook her head.

He closed his eyes. It hadn’t work. Of course it hadn’t worked. That was his entire life - things never working out. He should had told Lina no. He should had taken the spell and sent them all away. He had told himself he would be OK with the outcome, but something about seeing Amelia sitting on his bed with silver hair made his gut twist inside out. She had put herself, her _magic_ at risk for him. 

And the end result? Nothing.

“Zelgadis-san …”

“Just …,” he snapped, then reined himself in. He took a deep breath and tried again. “Give me a bit, pleased, Amelia?”

She looked like she wanted to protest, but nodded. “All right. I’m going to go get a tray for Lina-san. I don’t think she’s quite ready to handle stairs yet.”

When she was gone, Zelgadis fisted his hand. He did a simple spell incantation, and it came to him effortlessly. One advantage of still being cursed. He tossed the covers aside and started to dress.

* * *

Lina swore.

“You thought it would work,” Gourry consoled her, patting her knee as he sat on the edge of the bed.

“I had hoped … instead, all of us are tapped out magically. We’re stuck here until we get at least some of it back, or we’re all sitting ducks if we run into the wrong folks on the road.” In frustration, she huffed. “Maybe part of it got translated wrong. Ran’s still on her tour of Sairaag, right? We can go track her down, get her to try again.”

“Lina …”

“But then,” she interjected, “what if that’s wrong? What if the next attempt kills one or all of us?” She offered Gourry a lopsided smile. “I mean, it was only about 25 percent that time.”

“You told me 10-15 percent.”

“Well, I lied.” She stretched out her hand, wiggling her fingers. “Gimme.”

Knowing what she wanted, he fished her ring out of his pocket. When she moved to grab it, he simply caught her hand in his and slid it back where it belonged himself.

She laced her fingers with his. “Sorry I made you worry.” 

With his free hand, he fondly ruffled her hair. “It’s OK. You had to try.”

Lina looked up at him. Gourry so rarely looked tired, but he did now. His eyes were shadowed from lack of sleep, and he had chucked his hair back in a braid for all the nursing he was doing. 

“I knew you were going to do this as soon as you told me what that spell was,” he said. “And Zel has helped us a lot in the past. We were going to help him. It’s only right.”

She chuckled a bit. “You have every right to be mad at me, and you’re not.”

“I believe in you.”

That simple, honest statement floored her. Emotion that she was still getting used to swamped her. Her hands seemed to move on their own as she pulled him down to her and kissed him, putting every feeling she couldn’t vocalize into the embrace. She looped her free arm around his neck, because she couldn’t seem to let go of his hand, and lost herself in him.

* * *

Amelia backed away from the door, loaded tray in hand. Balancing it carefully in the crook of one arm, she used her free hand to close the door. She padded down the hall as quietly as she could, her heart hammering. She hadn’t meant to eavesdrop or look into Lina’s room, but once she had, her feet refused to move. 

Her mother had died when she was young, and she hadn’t been around very many stable relationships growing up. She had long rooted for Lina and Gourry because their attraction had been palatable. Things clearly had changed when they were outside the barrier, and the way they looked at each other with such naked devotion … Amelia slowly set the tray down once she reached the table and rubbed her hand over her chest. 

“Are you all right, Amelia?”

She startled, nearly upsetting the tray. Zelgadis sat in the small parlor in front of the fireplace, spell scrolls in hand. She thought his magic had drained further than hers or Lina’s, but he seemed fine. His hair didn’t even change. 

“Yeah, yeah.”

“Lina OK?”

“Yeah. Gourry-san’s with her.” The rest felt too private to mention, but the way Zelgadis flicked his gaze toward the ceiling made her think he probably guessed. 

Zelgadis frowned at her, and Amelia busied herself pouring out tea for both of them.

“I mean, your magic,” he said.

“Yeah!” Amelia cast a Lighting spell. It was weak, but usable. “I woke up a day before you and Lina-san, so I seem to be recovering fast. Or I wasn’t as tapped out as the two of you, though you seem to be looking good.”

“Yes, I think I’m recovering my magic quickly.”

She handed him a mug and sat next to him. “What are you going to do now?”

Zelgadis stared into his tea, and Amelia felt her heart shatter for him.

“I told myself,” he began, “that if this didn’t work that I would end this quest. That I would move on with the rest of my life ... I lied.”

“I know.”

He looked at her, but he didn’t seem surprised that she guessed it. She had learned his moods over the years, how he thinked. He would blame himself for this, and she had to make it absolutely clear that none of this was his fault. It all went back to Rezo.

“Zelgadis-san, it’s OK, we can-”

“Your role in finding my cure,” he spoke over her, “is over.” 

The ability to form the most basic of sentences fled. “ _Why?_ ” 

“I will not put your life or Lina’s at risk any further. Not for this. Lina practically is on every mazoku hit list and quite a few human ones, but still ...”

Amelia shook her head. “Maybe someone else can translate the spell. We can take it to …”

Zelgadis stood, pitching the scrolls into the fire.

“Zelgadis-san!” Amelia leaped to her feet, not sure of what to do as she watched him visibly fold into himself. He stared into the fire as the parchment crumbled away. 

“I have never loved myself,” he said so softly that she barely heard him. “But you …”

He spun, the fire catching the intensity in his eyes, and she simply froze, hand in mid-air. He reached out, hesitant at first as his fingers barely brushed her cheek. Tears, hated unwelcomed, welled up as he stroked her cheek.

“I love you so much,” he continued.

Her heart simply stopped.

“You almost make me forget what it’s like to hate myself.” 

He pulled her to him, and before her brain could even begin to process what he was confessing, he was kissing her. Her tears spilled over his fingers as she returned the kiss, as her gut started sending out warning signals. She started to pull back, but he broke the kiss first, muttering under his breath as he did so. As the mental fog cleared, Amelia suddenly recognized the spell.

“Zelgadis-san, don’t-”

“ _Sleeping._ ”

Amelia slumped to the floor at his feet.

Zelgadis picked her up, carefully placing her on the small couch. He held her small, perfect hand for just a moment, soaking in the warmth. “I’m sorry,” he whispered, running his hand through her slowly darkening hair.

Then, before he could stop himself, he untied the gem around her left wrist and tucked it in his cloak. He looked toward the stairs, apologized mentally to his friends and to the only woman he would ever love, and walked away.


End file.
